Speakers: Be witnesses each day and help build a culture of life
Fr. Peter West
By Mary Ann Wyand
NEW ALBANY—Abortion is a human rights issue, Father Peter West emphasized, not just a woman’s issue.
After praying the rosary outside an abortion clinic in Louisville at 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 10, Father West and Servants of the Gospel of Life Sister Diane Carollo spoke at the “I Love Life” conference at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish.
Father West, a Priests for Life staff member from the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., and Sister Diane, the director of the archdiocesan Office for Pro-Life Ministry, inspired about
100 conference participants from southern Indiana and Kentucky with their advice about ways to battle the culture of death in contemporary society.
The conference was sponsored by St. Joseph Parish in Sellersburg and held at the New Albany parish.
“It’s always a very sad thing when you’re there in front of [an abortion] mill,” Father West said. “You never know who you’re going to turn away or how many people maybe just saw the crowd and decided not to come that day. We have to keep up our efforts on behalf of life, and one of the most important things I think we can do is pray in front of the [abortion] mills.”
He said Msgr. Philip Reilly, who founded the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants in New York, described praying outside an abortion clinic as like
“being at the foot of the cross with Jesus—as Mary and St. John the Apostle and Mary Magdalene were.”
Pro-life supporters can help protect “the tremendous value of every human life,” Father West said, by praying, knowing the telephone number of their local Crisis Pregnancy Center, promoting adoption and voting for pro-life candidates.
“To build a culture of life, one of the most important things that we need to do is to pray,” he said. “Pray each and every day for an end to abortion. Pray for the women who are tempted to have an abortion. Pray for the fathers. … Pray for the doctors [to] … use their God-given skills, not to take life but to serve life.”
Father West said he found his vocation to the priesthood through the pro-life movement.
“Every one of us has not only the right, but [also] the duty to speak up for life,” he said, “and to use whatever strengths and skills we have to serve life.”
Priests for Life was founded by Father Frank Pavone to reach out to clergy, he said, and encourage them to preach the truth about abortion and work for the defense of life in other ways.
“Abortion denies human rights to a whole class of human beings,” Father West said, “based on their size, stage of development and where they live—inside the womb.”
He said the U.S. bishops’ document on “Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics” identifies the right to life as the premier social justice issue.
Political responsibility must be based on moral principles, he said, and pro-life work must involve educational efforts.
Emphasizing that there is an appropriate time and place to show people pictures of aborted babies, Father West said, “I don’t think people really fully understand the horror of abortion unless they see the pictures.”
Apathy is the greatest obstacle to pro-life ministry, he said. “We need to pray for ourselves that we will overcome the fear of speaking out in public about what we know is right, that we will overcome our own apathy, and that we will work diligently to create a new culture of life in which each and every human being will be welcomed, protected, nurtured and loved from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.”
Sister Diane served as a pro-life sidewalk counselor with Msgr. Reilly in New York. She promoted the Helpers ministry and started offering Project Rachel, a post-abortion reconciliation program, after beginning her ministry in the archdiocese in 2000.
“Abortion is just one of [Satan’s] many tools against humanity,” she said. “The right to life of people who are incurably or terminally ill, handicapped, poor and weak are also at risk in the culture of death that is prevalent in contemporary society.
“More than 50 million unborn children have been destroyed legally through surgical abortions since 1973 in this country,” she said. “In the state of Indiana, 54,506 abortions were recorded in 2000 through 2004. In 2004, Marion County had 3,559 abortions, Clark County had 22, Floyd County had 14, Harrison County had six [and] New Albany had 42.”
Each abortion claims more than one victim, Sister Diane said. “For every child destroyed by abortion, there are two parents—and countless friends and relatives—who must endure the devastating consequences of this choice. What appeared to be a solution to a problem becomes for many the worst nightmare of their lives. I am not exaggerating when I say that millions of post-abortive parents bear spiritual, emotional and psychological scars from abortion.”
Women and men who suffer in the aftermath of abortion are “survivors of the culture of death,” she said. “They deserve our compassionate outreach as they struggle to forgive themselves and allow God to heal them.”
Society’s hostile mentality against life thrives in abortion facilities, she said, as well as in laboratories and fertility clinics.
“Embryonic stem-cell research destroys the unborn, has produced no benefits or cures in treating diseases and yet continues to be promoted over adult stem-cell research that has a proven success rate,” Sister Diane said. “… Half a million embryos remain suspended in a frozen state in fertility clinics around the country. This has been going on for 30 years. They will never be implanted in their mother’s womb and will never see the light of day.”
The culture of death teaches people that they can be selective about life, she said. “The sick, elderly and dying are other easy targets. Assisted suicide and euthanasia are on the rise.”
Contemporary society is obsessed with death, Sister Diane said, and many people see no value in redemptive suffering.
“Jesus and the teachings of the Church provide the antidote to the culture of death,” she said. “… Through Christ and his Church, we learn how to live well and how to die well in the state of grace.”
In a society that is spiritually bankrupt, she said, Christians can take heart from the words of St. Paul for inspiration and advice on how to live in the midst of the culture of death with hope and courage.
“We can identify with St. Paul, the Apostle and missionary, in that we too are missionaries called to witness to the dignity and sanctity of human life,” Sister Diane said. “… It is our calling, by virtue of our baptism, to reintroduce the liberating message of the Gospel to the people of our time.” †
